Bracelet or like article of jewelry capable of being immediately brought to size



Nov. 18, 1969 B, GOLBERINE ET AL v3,478,537

BRACELET 0R LIKE ARTICLE oF JEWELRY CAPABLE oF BEING IMMEDIATELY BROUGHT T0 SIZE Filed NOV. 29, 1966 Fig.1

United States Patent O Inf. c1. .444e 5/05, 5/18; A4sc 11/10 U.S. Cl. 63-4 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Article of jewelry such as a bracelet having two free end portions connected to a connecting element through two box portions. Each box portion has a locking member mounted therein which engages one recess of a series of fixing recesses which are in spaced relation longitudinally of the article and located solely on a single side of the article, each free end portion of the jewelry being engaged in the corresponding box portion. The bracelet can be shortened by cutting the ends thereof and reinserting the bracelet in the box portions and engaging the locking member in another recess.

The present invention relates to articles of jewelry for example composed of precious metal, such as bracelets, wrist-watch bracelets or straps and necklaces which must be brought to the right ysize after having been bought.

Thus, for example, a bracelet and in particular a wristwatch bracelet or strap must be adapted to the wrist size of the buyer.

This adaptation most often requires the return of the article to the manufacturer and this entails additional expense and delays whereas the buyer would like to take the article away with him immediately.

In order to avoid this adaptation, fasteners have a1- ready been proposed which permit adjusting the length of the article, the latter thus being Worn indilferently by any person. However, this solution increases the cost of the article and usually spoils its appearance. Further, the article is not personalized and this is a serious drawback for articles of value.

The object of the invention is to remedy these various drawbacks.

The invention provides a bracelet or like article of jewelry which can be immediately brought to the desired length without spoiling the appearance of the article and without affecting the cost price, the article conserving the appearance of having been made to measure. Said article comprises two boxes respectively provided on each end of the fastener or other joining element, each box being adapted to receive one of the free ends of the article, said ends comprising on one of their faces a series of longitudinally spaced recesses any one of which is cooperable with a pin or like element which extends through the boxes so as to lock said ends in said boxes, whereby said ends can be cut to the desired length.

By means of this arrangement the free ends can be extracted from the boxes, cut to the desired length and once more locked in the boxes Iby means of the pins which are thereafter riveted or burred over so as to secure the ends permanently in the boxes.

Further features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the ensuing description with reference to the accompanying drawing.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a partial perspective view of an embodiment of the invention, and

lice

FIG. 2 is a partial longitudinal sectional view of said embodiment.

In the drawing, the invention has been illustrated 1n its application to a wrist-watch bracelet or strap, for example of the Milanese type consisting of two elements E connected at one end to a watch and interconnected at their other ends by a fastener F.

Said fastener is of conventional type and therefore will only be described briefly. It comprises a ladder-like element 1 adapted to be connected to the free end 2 of one of the elements E of the bracelet and a locking member 3 adapted to be connected to the other free end 2 of the other element E. This locking member has at one end a pivotable bar 4 which, after engagement in the ladderlike element 1, is swing over onto the fixed part of the locking member (FIG. 2) so as to'close the fastener. Further, a safety buckle 5, pivoted to the other end of the locking member 3, is applied onto the bar 4 so as to render the fastener reliable.

According to the invention, the free ends 2-which are in one piece with the elements E or connected to the latter-instead of being connected directly to said fastener are connected to the latter in a special manner.

Formed on the inner face of said free ends, is a series of fixing recesses or notches 6 which are longitudinally equally spaced apart. Said recesses face the wrist of the user and are invisible when the bracelet is being worn.

Further, pivoted to each of the ends of the fastener F is a box or hollow block 7 in which the corresponding end 2 can be slidably mounted until it abuts the inner end wall 8 of the box 7.

A vsemi-cylindrical boss 9 is provided on the inner face 10 of each box 7 and adapted to house a pin 11 which extends through apertures 12 in the adjacent lateral walls of the box. The distance between the apertures 12 and the end wall 8 of each box 7 is equal to the pitch p of the notches 6.

Owing to the arrangement just described the bracelet according to the invention can be easily adjusted for size. It is supplied to the retailer detachably secured to the fastener F by the pins 11, the latter not being riveted over, as shown in the left part of FIG. l. At their ends opposite the fasterner, the two elements E of the bracelet are connected in any suitable manner to a wrist-watch and have such length that the bracelet corresponds to the largest usual size. Consequently, it will usually be necessary to shorten them to adapt the bracelet to the circumference of the wrist of the user.

For this purpose, the ends 2 are unpinned, withdrawn from the boxes 7 and cut by means of pliers on the axis of the notch 6 appropriate to the desired length of the bracelet, half of the excess length being removed from each end 2. Thereafter, the ends 2 are reinserted in the boxes 7, until the end faces of these ends abut the end walls 8. The apertures 12 are then in alignment with the notch 6 corresponding to the extent just cut olf from the element E (the pitch p of the notches and the distance between the end wall 8 and the apertures 12 are equal). The pins 11 are inserted in these apertures so as to prevent any withdrawal of the ends 2 and the pins are riveted or burred over so that they are permanently secured in position.

The operation is now finished. It can be carried out suitably well very rapidly with rudimentary tooling that every retailer possesses. Thus, the buyer can immediately take away the bracelet he has just bought, this bracelet being exactly his size and consequently personalized. It will be furthermore noted that the appearance of the bracelet is not spoiled since the notches 6 are invisible when the bracelet is being worn and the bracelet is practically unmodified by the boxes 7 owing to their very small overall size. Moreover, this size can be reduced by arranging for a part of the length of the boxes to be taken from the length of the fastener F which is arranged accordingly.

The advantages of the bracelet of the invention are therefore obvious.

Although a `specific embodiment of the invention has been described, many modifications and changes may be made.

Thus, in particular, although the boxes 7 have been illustrated as being connected to the fastener-which is the preferred solution-they could also be connected to another connection element of the Wrist-watch bracelet, namely the watch. Further, the pins 11 could be replaced by screws screwed into the apertures 12 which are tapped for this purpose, this solution being of interest only if the walls of the boxes 7 are relatively thick.

The invention is of particular interest in its application to wrist-watch bracelets or straps, but it is also applicable to simple bracelets, necklaces and other articles of jewelry which need to be brought to the right size.

Having now described our invention what we claim as new and desired to secure by Letter Patent is:

1. An article of jewelry comprising two substantially flexible free end portions, a connecting element having two ends for interconnecting said free end portions, two box portions connected respectively at the two ends of said connecting element, a locking member mounted in each of said box portions and extending inside said box portions, each of said free end portions having a series of fixing recesses for receiving said locking member and which are in spaced relation to each other longiudinally of said article and located solely on a single side of said article, said free end portions being respectively detachably engaged inside said box portions and each of said locking members engaging one of said recesses of the corresponding free end portion so as t0 trap said free end portion between the locking member and the corresponding box portion, said article being so arranged and constructed that said free end portions can be cut to the desired length and immediately inserted in said box portions with no further operation being necessary other than engaging the locking members in the desired recesses.

2. An article as claimed in clairn 1, wherein the recesses of each series are spaced an equal distance apart, each of said box portions has an inner end wall against Which the corresponding free end portion abuts and the centre of said locking member is spaced a distance from said inner end wall which is equal to the pitch of said recesses.

3. An article as claimed in claim 1, wherein said side of said article on which said recesses are provided is the side of said article intended to be adjacent the wearer of said article whereby said recesses are invisible when said article is being worn.

4. An article as claimed in claim 1, wherein each box portion is substantially in the form of a hollow block which is pivoted to the ends of said connecting element.

5. An article as claimed in claim 1, wherein said locking members are cylindrical pins and each box portion has at least one aperture in which the corresponding pin is received, said pin extending inside the box portion and engaging in one of said xing recesses. V

6. An article as claimed in claim 1, wherein said article is a bracelet.

7. An article as claimed in claim 5, further comprising a substantially semi-cylindrical boss on the outer face of each box portion in the region of said aperture.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,274,207 2/ 1942 Merz. 2,638,652 5/1953 Ruf 24-265 2,641,074 6/ 1953 Richmond 63-3 XR 2,654,934 10/1953 Armbruster 24-265 3,042,277 7/ 1962 Stradella.

FOREIGN PATENTS 38,427 3/1931 France. 706,560 3/ 1931 France.

F. BARRY SHAY, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 24-265; 224-4 

